Henri II: His Court and Times (3 page)
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Authors: H Noel Williams
T
HE
principal authorities, both contemporary and
modern, which I have consulted in the preparation of this volume are mentioned either in the
text or the footnotes. I desire, however, to acknowledge
my obligations to the following works by modern writers:
Mr. Edward Armstrong, "The Emperor Charles V"; Armand Baschet,
la Diplomatie vénitienne
; M. Henri Bouchot,
Catherine de Médicis
; M. Edouard Bourciez,
les Mœurs polies
et la littérature de Cour sous Henri II
; Madame Coignet,
François I
and
Un gentilhomme des temps passés: François
de Scépeaux, Sire de Vieilleville
; M. François Decrue,
Anne
de Montmorency, grand maître et connétable de France, à la
cour, aux armées, et au conseil du roi François I
er
, and
Anne, duc de Montmorency, connétable et pair de France,
sous les rois Henri II, François II, et Charles IX;
M. Henri
Forneron,
les Ducs de Guise et leur époque
; Georges Guiffrey,
les Lettres inédites de Dianne de Poytiers
; François Mignet,
la Rivalité de François I et de Charles-Quint
; Hector de
La Ferrière,
les Lettres de Catherine de Médicis
; Julia Pardoe,
"The Court and Reign of Francis I"; Alfred von Reumont,
Die Jugend Caterina's de' Medici
; Baron Alphonse de Ruble,
la Première Jeunesse de Marie Stuart
; T. A. Trollope, "The
Girlhood of Catherine de' Medici"; and the histories of
Froude, Lavisse, Henri Martin, and Sismondi.
H. NOEL WILLIAMS
L
ONDON,
October, 1910
.
Claude de France, first wife of François I — Conduct of the King towards
her — Hostility of his mother, Louise of Savoy — Her retired life — Her children
— Her vow to Saint-François de Paule — Birth of a Dauphin — Birth of
Henri, Duc d'Orléans, afterwards Henri II — Death of the Queen— She is accounted
a saint, and miracles are reported to have been performed at her tomb
F
EW
queens have left so little mark upon history as
Claude de France, eldest daughter of Louis XII
and Anne de Bretagne, and first wife of François I.
One of the greatest heiresses of her time, she brought her
husband the province of Brittany — which, if her mother had
been allowed to have her way, would have gone, with the
princess's hand, to young Charles of Austria, the future
Charles V — and the counties of Asti, Coucy, Vertus, Étampes,
Montfort, and Amaury; "and a dowry more precious still,
an inexhaustible fund of kindness, sweetness, chastity and
patience, in a word, all the virtues of her father."
01
But alas! neither her great possessions, nor her many virtues,
nor yet the pathetic devotion which she entertained for him,
sufficed to win her more than a half-contemptuous tolerance
from "
le roi chevalier
," who, though, in accordance with
custom, he made it an invariable rule to pass the night with
his consort, did not attempt to conceal his preference for the
society of more attractive, if less estimable, ladies, of whom
the too-celebrated Madame de Chateaubriand was the most
favoured.
02
Nor
were the neglect and infidelity of François
the only trials which she had to endure. Often she found
herself exposed to the imperious humour of the vindictive
Louise of Savoy, Duchesse d'Angoulême,
03
who appears to
have been resolved to avenge upon the innocent Claude all
that she had suffered from the hatred of Anne de Bretagne,
and to make her life as unhappy as possible.
04
Neglected by her husband, slighted by her mother-in-law,
and towards the end of her life a martyr to ill-health, the
poor Queen took but little part in the amusements of the
Court. Most of her time was passed in tapestry-work, in
the embroidering of altar-cloths, in devotional exercises, and
in works of charity. The only joys she appears to have
known were those of maternity, which were not spared her,
since, in her ten years of married life, she gave birth to seven
children: three sons and four daughters.
05
C
LAUDE DE
V
ALOIS,
Q
UEEN OF
F
RANCE
FROM AN ENGRAVING AFTER THE DRAWING IN THE LOUVRE
Her first two children, to her intense disappointment,
were both daughters, whereupon, we are told, having learned
that Louise of Savoy had obtained the King through the
prayers of Saint-François de Paule, she made a vow, in the
presence of Père Binet, general of the Minims, and of several
other persons of quality, that, if it should please God to
grant her a son, she would give him the name of François,
and cause François de Paule, who had already been beatified
by Leo X, on the petition of Louis XII and Anne de
Bretagne, to be canonised.
Her desire was accomplished, and "on the last day of
February 1517,
06
the good, virtuous, and very perfect Queen
of France gave birth to her first son, Dauphin of Viennois,
in the town of Amboise, which was the occasion for great
rejoicings throughout all the realm."
07
This happy event was followed, thirteen months later, by
the birth of a second son, who came into the world at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, "on the thirty-first and last day of March
[1519], about six o'clock in the morning,"
08
and we learn, on the authority of the courtly Ronsard, that the
Queen —
This demi-god was the future Henri II, the subject of the present volume, the
name Henri being given him out of compliment to Henry VIII of England, who stood godfather by
procuration.
Of the childhood of Henri, upon whom the title of Duc d'Orléans was conferred, the chroniclers tell us nothing, save
that it was chiefly passed in the company of his brothers and
sisters at the Château of Amboise. When he was six years
old he lost his mother, who died, at Blois, on July 20, 1524,
unregretted, we fear, by her volatile husband, but mourned by
the people, who had styled her "
la bonne reine
," and many of
whom now accounted her a saint. Her body lay for some
time in the chapel of Saint-Calais at Blois, before being conveyed
to Saint-Denis, during which contemporary chroniclers
assure us that several sick persons who had visited her tomb,
"bearing offerings and candles," were cured of their
ailments.
09
Eighteen months after the death of their mother, Henri
and his elder brother, the Dauphin François, found themselves
called upon to play a part which, happily, has fallen to the lot
of few princes of such tender years — nothing less than to
leave their peaceful home on the banks of the Loire and to
cross the Pyrenees into Spain, there to remain for four weary
years as hostages in the hands of the Emperor Charles V, for
the fulfilment of their father's engagements to that monarch.
But, to understand how this came about, as well as the
external difficulties which will confront Henri on his accession
to the throne, we must go back to the beginning of the reign
of François I.
(1)
Gaillard,
Histoire de François I
er
.
(2)
Françoise de Foix, daughter of
Phébus de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, and of
Jeanne d'Aydie, eldest daughter of Odet d'Aydie, Comte de Comminges. She
was born about 1495, and married in 1509 Jean de Montmorency-Laval, Seigneur
de Chateaubriand. If we are to believe Brantôme, François I,
whose curiosity had been aroused by the fame of the lady's charms, had recourse to a stratagem to bring her to his Court, despite the desire of her husband to keep her
beyond his Majesty's reach — namely, by having a facsimile made and forwarded to her of a ring which M. de Chateaubriand had arranged to send his
wife, should he wish her to join him. Any way, the King fell in love with her,
and in 1518 she became his mistress, and wore in public the jewels which he
had given her, engraved with amorous devices, which the complaisant Marguerite
d'Angoulême had composed, at her brother's request. Her influence was
considerable and most unfortunate, for she brought about the disgrace of
several old and faithful servants of the Crown, and obtained for her three
brothers, Thomas, Seigneur de Lescun, Odet, Seigneur de Lautrec, and André,
Seigneur de Lesparre, not only the highest dignities, but important military
commands, for which they were quite unfitted. She appears to have had
little affection for her royal lover, and was suspected of having bestowed her
favours upon the King's favourite Bonnivet and the Connétable de Bourbon.
(3)
Daughter of Philippe, Comte de Bresse, afterwards Duke of Savoy, and of
Marguerite de Bourbon; born September 14, 1476; married in 1490 Charles
d'Orléans, Comte d'Angoulême, and became the mother of François I and
Marguerite, Queen of Navarre.
(4)
Louise of Savoy, in her
Journal
, calls the universe to witness that she
had always treated her daughter-in-law with affection and respect. "Every
one knows it," she writes; "truth recognises it, experience proves it; moreover,
common report proclaims it." Her indignant protestations, however, have
been disregarded by historians, and there can be no doubt that her imperious
airs severely tried the patience of the unfortunate Queen.
(5)
Here is the list:
1. Louise, born in 1515; died in 1517.
2. Charlotte, born in 1516; died in 1524.
3. François, born in 1518; died in 1536.
4. Henri, born in 1519; succeeded to the throne as Henri II in 1547;
died in 1559.
5. Madeleine, born in 1520; married in 1536 James V of Scotland; died in
1537.
6. Charles, born in 1522; died in 1545.
7. Marguerite, born in 1523; married in 1559 Emmanuel Philibert X,
Duke of Savoy; died in 1574.
(6)
1518, according to modern chronology. At this period, the year began at
Easter.
(7)
Chronique de Bayard
. The joyful mother did not forget her vow to
Saint-François de Paule, whose canonisation took place in 1519, as the result
of the representations made by the King and Queen of France to the Holy
See, "their Majesties, with a liberality worthy of our Kings, defraying all the
expenses."
(8)
Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris sous la règne de François I
er
(1515-1536),
edited by Ludovic Lalanne (Paris, 1854).
(9)
"And by reason of the great opinion which they held of her sanctity,
several persons carried to her offerings and candles, and attest that they were
cured and saved from some malady by her merits and intercessions. And likewise a notable lady, who affirmed that she had obtained, owing to her merits,
the cure of a fever which had long time tormented her." —
Chronique du roi
François I
er
.
"It was said that, after her death, the gentle lady performed miracles, her
body being at Blois in the chapel of Saint-Calais, and that vows and candles of
wax were offered to her. The good lady was very greatly beloved while alive
and after her death, for she was all goodness and kindness and virtue." —
Journal
d'un bourgeois de Paris
.
First Italian campaign of François I — Battle of Marignano and recovery of the
Milanese — The Concordat — Treaties of Noyon and Cambrai — Character of the
King — Disastrous consequences of the government of Louise of Savoy and her
favourite Du Prat — Beginning of the rivalry of François I and Charles of
Austria — Charles elected Emperor — Negotiations with England: the Field of
the Cloth of Gold— War between François and Charles V begins — Early
successes of the French — Reverses in Italy — League formed against France —
The Connétable de Bourbon — A woman scorned — Conspiracy of Bourbon — His
flight — The French compelled to evacuate Italy: death of Bayard — Invasion of
Provence by the Imperialists — Siege of Marseilles — Retreat of the Imperialists —
François again invades the Milanese — He occupies Milan and lays siege to Pavia
— The Imperialists advance to the relief of the town — Battle of Pavia, in which
the French army is destroyed, and the King is taken prisoner